Marie of Boulogne and Blois
Overview
Biography
(See also Genealogical Table(s): 2.3, 2.4.2.)Marie became the countess of Boulogne in her own right in 1159, after the death of both her brothers, Eustace and William. She was the daughter of king Stephen of England and queen Matilda, who had inherited Boulogne, and great-granddaughter of St. Margaret, queen of Scotland. Marie was taken out of the convent of Ramsey, where she was abbess, to be married to Matthew of Alsace and convey the county to him in 1161, over the objections of Thomas Becket. They had two daughters, Ida who succeeded her in Boulogne, and Matilda. Marie returned to convent life in 1169-70, to Sainte-Austreberth de Montreuil. Anne J. Duggan suggests that she may be the nun Idonea, "the appropriate one," whom Becket chose to carry an important papal letter to the bishop of York.